Data structure for physical layer encapsulation

ABSTRACT

Provided are a data structure including a header area, and a payload area comprising data, a method of generating the data structure, and extracting information from the data structure. At least one of the header area and the payload area includes at least one sub-area in which one or more signal fields are included. At least one signal field among the signal fields includes information for signalling presence or absence of one or more information fields located at least partly in the data structure, the one or more information fields corresponding to the one or more signal fields.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. application Ser.No. 14/243,103, filed Apr. 2, 2014, which claims priority from KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2013-0096128, filed on Aug. 13, 2013, in theKorean Intellectual Property Office and U.K. Patent ApplicationGB1311443.4 filed on Jun. 27, 2013, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate toa data structure at the physical layer, and more particularly, to a datastructure for future generation digital broadcasting systems, forexample systems developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)Project and/or the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) (e.g.the ATSC 3.0 Standard).

2. Description of the Related Art

Digital broadcasting techniques allow various types of digital content,for example video and audio data, to be distributed to end users. Anumber of standards have been developed for this purpose, including afamily of standards developed by the ATSC organization, including ATSC1.0 and ATSC 2.0 standards. The ATSC Digital Television (DTV) Standard,described in various documents, including A/52 and A/53, available athttp://www.atsc.org, have been adopted for use in terrestrialbroadcasting by various countries, including the United States, Canadaand South Korea.

Recently, ATSC has begun developing a new standard, known as ATSC 3.0,for a delivery method of real-time and non-real-time television contentand data to fixed and mobile devices. As part of this development, ATSChas published a Call for Proposals (CFP) document (TG3-S2 Doc. #023r20,“Call for Proposals For ATSC-3.0 PHYSICAL LAYER, A Terrestrial BroadcastStandard”, ATSC Technology Group 3 (ATSC 3.0), 26 Mar. 2013), in which astated goal is to identify technologies that could be combined to createa new physical layer of an ATSC 3.0 Standard. It is envisaged that theATSC 3.0 system will be designed with a layered architecture and ageneralized layering model for ATSC 3.0 has been proposed. The scope ofthe aforementioned CFP is limited to the base layer of this model, theATSC 3.0 Physical Layer, which corresponds to Layer 1 and 2 of theISO/IEC 7498-1 model.

It is intended that ATSC 3.0 will not require backward compatibilitywith current broadcasting systems, including ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 2.0.However, the CFP states that, wherever practicable, the standard shallutilize and reference existing standards that are found to be effectivesolutions to meet the requirements.

Other existing standards developed for broadcasting digital contentinclude a family of open standards developed and maintained by theDigital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Project and published by the EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). One such standard isDVB-T2, which is described in various documents, including ETSI EN 302755 V1.3.1, (“Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Frame structure channelcoding and modulation for a second generation digital terrestrialtelevision broadcasting system (DVB-T2)”), and Technical SpecificationETSI TS 102 831 V1.2.1 (“Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB);Implementation guidelines for a second generation digital terrestrialtelevision broadcasting system (DVB-T2)”).

In DVB-T2, data is transmitted in a frame structure. Service data (forexample in the form of one or more MPEG-2 Transport Streams, or GenericEncapsulated Streams (GSE)) may be separated into one or more datastreams, which are then carried in the form of Physical Layer Pipes(PLPs). Each PLP is a logical channel, which may carry one or multipleservices at a given Quality of Service (QoS). Each PLP is associatedwith a certain modulation and Forward Error Correction (FEC) protectionmode which is statically configurable, and other Physical Layer (L1)configurations, for example time interleaving depth. A PLP is acontainer of baseband frames (BBFRAMEs) with a corresponding structure,and a BBFRAME cannot be owned by more than one PLP. A BBFRAME is an L1container for encapsulating User Packets (UPs) received from the DataLink Layer (L2), and has a particular data structure that is processedindependently by the FEC encoder. A BBFRAME may be regarded as acodeword structure.

FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of a DVB-T2 BBFRAME. The BBFRAME 100comprises a header 101 of fixed length (10 bytes), a data field 103 ofvariable length (DFL), and a field 105 of variable length (PADL) forpadding and/or in-band signalling. The total length of the BBFRAME 100is fixed at K_(bch) bits.

The BBFRAME 100 is encoded by performing BCH outer coding and LDPC innercoding, and the parity check bits of the BCH outer code and the paritycheck bits of the inner LDPC code are appended to the end of the BBFRAME100. The maximum size of the data field 103 DFL depends on the chosenLDPC code, the chosen BCH code, and whether or not the BBFRAME 100includes in-band signalling.

The bits of UPs may be allocated to the data field of BBFRAMEs usingfragmentation or no fragmentation. When using no fragmentation, aninteger number of UPs are allocated to the data field 103 of eachBBFRAME 100. When using fragmentation, a number of bits equal to theavailable data field capacity are allocated, thus potentially breakingup a UP across data fields 103 of subsequent BBFRAMEs 100.

The BBFRAME header 101 is inserted in front of the data field 103 anddescribes the format of the data field 105. The header 101 comprises anumber of fields including a MATYPE field, an optional ISSY field, and aSYNCD field. The MATYPE field signals, among other things, the inputstream format (e.g. TS or GSE). The SYNCD field indicates the distancein bits from the beginning of the data field 103 to the beginning of thefirst transmitted UP which starts in the data field 103. Data processingin the DVB-T2 modulator may produce variable transmission delay on theuser information, and thus, the ISSY field carries information includingthe value of a counter clocked at the modulator clock rate, which can beused by a receiver to regenerate the correct timing of the regeneratedoutput stream. The ISSY field carries other information, for example,related to the buffer size required at the receiver to decode the givenPLP.

Padding 105 may be applied in circumstances when user data available fortransmission is not sufficient to completely fill a BBFRAME 100, or whenan integer number of UPs has to be allocated in a BBFRAME 100 (i.e. whenno fragmentation is used). The padding field 105 may also be used tocarry in-band signalling. The padding field 105 is appended after thedata field 103 and has a size such that the BBFRAME 100 has a constantlength of K_(bch) bits.

Another standard for digital broadcasting developed and maintained bythe DVB Project is DVB-NGH, which is described in various documentsincluding ETSI EN 303 105 V1.1.1 (“Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB);Next Generation broadcasting system to Handheld physical layerspecification (DVB-NGH)”) and DVB Bluebook A160. DVB-NGH is designed forbroadcasting digital content to handheld terminals, for example mobiletelephones.

DVB-NGH keeps the same BBFRAME structure as DVB-T2 and also includes theoptions of fragmentation and no fragmentation. However, DVB-NGH providesdifferent modes of operation, each mode using a certain header lengthand data field structure.

What is desired is a data structure, for example a baseband framestructure for use in future generation digital broadcasting systems, forexample systems developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)Project and/or the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) (e.g.the ATSC 3.0 Standard).

It is preferable, but not necessary, that the data structure has a goodoverhead efficiency, for example, such that the sizes of the header andpadding field are relatively small compared to the size of the datafield. It is also preferable, but not necessary, that the data structureis relatively simple to reduce the implementation complexity. It is alsopreferable, but not necessary, that the data structure has the capacityto be extended with relatively minor modifications, to enable the framestructure to incorporate new features and co-exist with both legacy andfuture standards.

SUMMARY

One or more exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept address,solve and/or mitigate, at least partly, at least one of the problemsand/or disadvantages associated with the related art, for example atleast one of the problems and/or disadvantages described above. One ormore exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept also provide atleast one advantage over the related art, for example at least one ofthe advantages described below.

The inventive concept is defined in the independent claims. Advantageousfeatures are defined in the dependent claims.

In accordance with an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a data structure which may include: a header area; and apayload area including data, wherein at least one of the header area andthe payload area includes at least one sub-area in which one or moresignal fields are included, and wherein at least one signal filed amongthe signal fields includes information for signalling presence orabsence of one or more information fields at least partly in the datastructure, the one or more information fields corresponding to the oneor more signal fields, respectively.

In accordance with an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a method for generating a data structure. The method mayinclude: generating a header area, and a payload area for containingdata therein; generating one or more signal fields in at least onesub-area in at least one of the header area and the payload area so thatat least one signal field among the signal fields includes informationfor signalling presence or absence of one or more information fields atleast partly in the data structure, the one or more information fieldscorresponding to the one or more signal fields, respectively. The methodmay further include inserting, in a signal field, a value for signallingpresence or absence of the information fields, wherein the informationfields are generated if the value inserted in the signal field comprisesinformation for signalling presence of the information fields.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided an apparatus for generating a data structure. Theapparatus may include frame builder configured to generate a headerarea, and a payload area for containing data therein, wherein the framebuilder is further configured to generate one or more signal fields inat least one sub-area in at least one of the header area and the payloadarea so that at least one signal field among the signal fields includesinformation for signalling presence or absence of one or moreinformation fields at least partly in the data structure, the one ormore information fields corresponding to the one or more signal fields,respectively. The frame builder may be further configured to insert, ina signal field, a value for signalling presence or absence of theinformation fields, and generate the information fields if the valueinserted in the signal field comprises information for signallingpresence of the information fields.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided a method for extracting information from a datastructure, wherein the data structure includes a header area, and apayload area including data, wherein at least one of the header area andthe payload area includes at least one sub-area in which one or moresignal fields, and wherein at least one signal field among the signalfields includes information for signalling presence or absence of one ormore information fields located at least partly in the data structure,the one or more information fields corresponding to the one or moresignal fields, respectively. The method may include: extracting, from asignal field, a value for signalling presence or absence of theinformation fields; and if the value extracted from the signal fieldcomprises information for signalling presence of the information fields,extracting, from the data structure, the information fields at leastpartly from the data structure.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided an apparatus for extracting information from a datastructure, wherein the data structure includes a header area, and apayload area including data, wherein at least one of the header area andthe payload area includes at least one sub-area in which one or moresignal fields, and wherein at least one signal field among the signalfields includes information for signalling presence or absence of one ormore information fields located at least partly in the data structure,the one or more information fields corresponding to the one or moresignal fields, respectively. The apparatus may include an informationextractor configured to extract, from a signal field, a value forsignalling presence or absence of the information fields, and, if thevalue extracted from the signal field comprises information forsignalling presence of the information fields, extract, from the datastructure, the information fields at least partly from the datastructure.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a machine-readable storage medium storing a data structure, thedata structure including a header area, and a payload area comprisingdata, wherein the header area comprises a first sub-area comprising oneor more signal fields, wherein at least one of the header area and thepayload area comprises at least one sub-area in which one or more signalfields are included, and wherein at least one signal filed among thesignal fields comprises information for signalling presence or absenceof one or more information fields at least partly in the data structure,the one or more information fields corresponding to the one or moresignal fields, respectively.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided an apparatus for generating a data structure accordingto any aspect or claim disclosed herein. In accordance with an aspect ofstill another exemplary embodiment, there is provided an apparatus forextracting information from a data structure according to any aspect orclaim disclosed herein.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided a system comprising two or more apparatuses accordingto any aspects or claims disclosed herein.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided a machine-readable storage medium storing a datastructure in accordance with any aspect or claim disclosed herein.

In accordance with an aspect of still another exemplary embodiment,there is provided a computer program comprising instructions arranged,when executed, to implement a method, system and/or apparatus inaccordance with any aspect or claim disclosed herein. A further aspectprovides machine-readable storage storing such a program.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least oneinformation field among the information fields may be included at leastpartly in a first sub-area, among the at least one sub-area, where acorresponding signal field is included.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the first sub-area mayfurther include padding which is provided to fill the data structure sothat the data structure has a given length.

According to any of the above-described aspects, a length of the firstsub-area may be variable depending on presence or absence of the atleast one of the information fields at least partly in the firstsub-area.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the first sub-area mayinclude padding which is provided to fill the data structure so that thedata structure has a given length.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the at least onesub-area may further include padding which is provided to fill the datastructure so that the data structure has a given length.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the at least onesub-area may have a variable length depending on a length of the atleast one of the padding and the signal fields included in the sub-area.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least one of theinformation fields may be located at an end of the data structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the signal fields maybe arranged in the sub-area in a predetermined order.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the information fieldsmay be arranged in the data structure in a predetermined order.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least oneinformation field among the information fields may include firstinformation about a characteristic of the data or the data structure,and second information about the characteristic of the data or the datastructure may be included in a signal field among the signal fields oran outside of the data structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the information fieldmay be a synchronization signal field and the first and secondinformation may constitute synchronization information about the data orthe data structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the data structure maybe a baseband frame and the second information may be included in an L1signalling field.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the signal fields mayinclude a padding signal field, wherein the information fields include apadding length information field for carrying information about a lengthof padding, depending on information included in the padding signalfield, and wherein the padding is provided to fill the data structure sothat the data structure has a given length. The padding signal field mayinclude information related to at least one of presence or absence ofthe padding in the data structure and the length of the padding in thedata structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the padding signalfield may include a value selected from a set of values including: afirst value for signalling absence of the padding and absence of thepadding length information field; at least one second value forsignalling presence of the padding having a certain respective lengthand absence of the padding length information field; and a third valuefor signalling presence of the padding having a length greater than athreshold and presence of the padding length information field.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the padding signalfield may further include information about presence or absence of asynchronization information field in which information aboutsynchronization of a stream including the data structure at a receiverof the data structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the padding signalfield may include a two-bit value.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least oneinformation field among the information fields may include firstinformation about a characteristic of the data or the data structure,and second information about the characteristic of the data or the datastructure may be included in a signal field among the signal fields oran outside of the data structure. Here, the information field may be aSYNCD field and the characteristic may include a position of a datapacket in the payload area.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the second informationabout the characteristic of the data or the data structure may beinformation common to two or more of the data structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the first informationmay include the least significant bits (LSBs) and the second informationmay include the most significant bits (MSBs).

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least one of thesignal fields may include a value selected from a set of valuesincluding: a first value for signalling presence of the informationfields; and a second value for signalling absence of the informationfields.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the signal fields mayinclude an offset signal field, and the information fields may includean offset information field for carrying offset information.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the offset informationindicates an offset between the beginning of the payload area, excludingpadding, and a first packet in the payload area.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the offset informationfield may carry first offset information, wherein the offset signalfield comprises a region for carrying second offset information,wherein, when the offset signal field signals presence of the offsetinformation field, offset information carried by the data structure isderived from the first offset information and the second offsetinformation, and wherein, when the offset signal field signals absenceof the offset information field, the offset information carried by thedata structure is derived from the second offset information.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the data structure mayinclude a fragmentation signal field for signalling whether packetfragmentation is used in the data structure.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the fragmentationsignal field may be provided in L1 configurable signalling of the data.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the data may includeone or more packets.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the data may include apacket fragment.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the packets may includean L2 packet.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least one of thesignal fields may be located in a header of a packet.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least one of theinformation fields may be located in a header of a packet.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the signal fields eachmay have a fixed length.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the first sub-zone mayhave a fixed length.

According to any of the above-described aspects, at least one of theinformation fields may have a fixed length.

According to any of the above-described aspects, the data structure mayinclude K_(bch) bits, wherein K_(bch) is the input length of a BCHencoder for encoding the data structure.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the inventive conceptwill become apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdetailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexeddrawings, disclose exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, and features and advantages of certainexemplary embodiments and aspects of the inventive concept will be moreapparent from the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of a DVB-T2 BBFRAME;

FIG. 2 illustrates a data structure according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a data structure according to another exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a data structure according to still another exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a data structure according to still another exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a data structure according to still another exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a system embodying the inventive concept;

FIGS. 8A-8B illustrate exemplary methods according to an inventiveconcept; and

FIG. 9 illustrates another exemplary method according to an inventiveconcept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following description of exemplary embodiments of the inventiveconcept, with reference to the accompanying drawings, is provided toassist in a comprehensive understanding of the inventive concept, asdefined by the claims. The description includes various specific detailsto assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merelyexemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that various changes and modifications of the exemplaryembodiments described herein can be made without departing from thescope of the inventive concept.

The same or similar components may be designated by the same or similarreference numerals, although they may be illustrated in differentdrawings.

Detailed descriptions of techniques, structures, constructions,functions or processes known in the art may be omitted for clarity andconciseness, and to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the inventiveconcept.

The terms and words used herein are not limited to the bibliographicalor standard meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable aclear and consistent understanding of the inventive concept.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the words“comprise”, “contain” and “include”, and variations thereof, for example“comprising”, “containing” and “including”, means “including but notlimited to”, and is not intended to (and does not) exclude otherfeatures, elements, components, integers, steps, processes, functions,characteristics, and the like.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, thesingular form, for example “a”, “an” and “the”, encompasses the pluralunless the context otherwise requires. For example, reference to “anobject” includes reference to one or more of such objects.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, language inthe general form of “X for Y” (where Y is some action, process,function, activity or step and X is some hardware and/or softwarecomponents for carrying out that action, process, function, activity orstep) encompasses means X adapted, configured or arranged specifically,but not necessarily exclusively, to do Y.

Features, elements, components, integers, steps, processes, functions,characteristics, and the like, described in conjunction with aparticular aspect, embodiment, example or claim of the inventive conceptare to be understood to be applicable to any other aspect, embodiment,example or claim described herein unless incompatible therewith.

A data structure according to the inventive concept may be generatedusing any suitable method including operations for generating such adata structure. A data structure according to the inventive concept maybe generated by any suitably arranged apparatus or system which includescomponents (or hardware and/or software) for generating such a datastructure. Information may be extracted from a data structure accordingto the inventive concept using any suitable method including operationsfor extracting information from such a data structure. Information maybe extracted from a data structure according to the inventive concept byany suitably arranged apparatus or system including components (orhardware and/or software) for extracting information from such a datastructure. The methods described herein may be implemented in anysuitably arranged apparatus or system including components (or hardwareand/or software) for carrying out the method operations.

Exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept provide a data structure.For example, certain exemplary embodiments provide a baseband framestructure that may be used in future generation digital broadcastingsystems, for example systems developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting(DVB) Project and/or the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)(e.g. the ATSC 3.0 Standard). However, the skilled person willappreciate that the inventive concept is not limited to use inconnection with any particular system or standard, for example the ATSC3.0 Standard, and that various exemplary embodiments provide a datastructure that may be used in any suitable type of digital broadcastingsystem.

Exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept may be implemented in theform of any suitable method, system and/or apparatus for use in digitalbroadcasting, for example in the form of a mobile/portable terminal(e.g. mobile telephone), hand-held device, personal computer, digitaltelevision and/or digital radio broadcast transmitter and/or receiverapparatus, set-top-box, etc. Any such system and/or apparatus may becompatible with any suitable existing or future digital broadcast systemand/or standard, for example one or more of the digital broadcastingsystems and/or standards referred to herein.

In certain exemplary embodiments, DVB-T2 is used as a reference systemin the design of the baseband frame structure. However, the skilledperson will appreciate that the inventive concept is not limited to aDVB-T2 type frame structure, and that various exemplary embodiments maybe based on any suitable type of frame structure.

In various exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept, each of oneor more fields may be inserted dynamically into baseband framesaccording to whether each field is required in a particular basebandframe. In order to achieve this, one or more signal fields are insertedinto each baseband frame, each signal field including information forsignalling the presence or absence of one or more respectivecorresponding fields in the baseband frame. By dynamically insertingfields in this way (for example, inserting certain fields only whenrequired), overhead efficiency may be improved. This scheme is incontrast to the baseband frame structure of DVB-T2 and DVB-NGH in whichfields are typically systematically inserted into frames.

In various exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept, a basebandframe may include one or more areas. At least one of the areas may bedivided into two or more sub-areas, and at least one of the sub-areasmay be further divided into two or more further sub-areas to any desiredlevel of sub-division. An area or sub-area may include a contiguous ornon-contiguous region or portion of the frame, for example a contiguousor non-contiguous group of bits or bytes.

The signal fields may be located in one or more certain areas orsub-areas, and the fields corresponding to signal fields may be inserted(when needed) in one or more certain areas or sub-areas. The signalfields and the corresponding fields may be inserted into the basebandframe such that the signal fields and corresponding fields are arrangedin a specific order. By locating the signal fields and correspondingfields in certain areas or sub-areas, and by arranging the signal fieldsand corresponding fields in a certain order, the signal fields andcorresponding fields may be more easily located within the basebandframe, thereby reducing implementation complexity.

In addition, if one or more fields remain the same across multiplebaseband frames (e.g. across all baseband frames of a given PLP in agiven time period), then these fields may be relocated fully or partlyaway from the baseband frame (e.g. to L1 configurable signalling). Forexample, in certain exemplary embodiments, a baseband frame-levelapproach may be applied, whereby fields may be signalled on aper-baseband frame basis. In addition, a PLP-level approach may beapplied, whereby all fields that are common across all baseband framesof a given PLP in a certain time interval are signalled in L1signalling, instead of being embedded in the baseband frame itself. Forexample, an ISSY field includes three sub-fields. Two of thesesub-fields are PLP-level and may be moved to L1 signalling, while thethird sub-field may remain in the baseband frame. By omitting fieldsfrom the baseband frames that are not necessary, or by relocating fieldsas described previously, overhead efficiency may be improved.

For example, a baseband frame may include a first area (e.g. headerarea) for a header of the baseband frame, and a second area (e.g.payload area) for a data field of the baseband frame. Padding may beinserted in the payload area, or may be inserted in a third area (e.g.padding area) of the frame. In some exemplary embodiments, the headerarea may include at least two sub-areas, wherein one or more of thesignal fields may be inserted in a first sub-area of the header area andthe fields corresponding to the signal fields may be inserted (whenneeded) in a second area of the header area. In some exemplaryembodiments, one or more of the signal fields and/or fieldscorresponding to the signal fields may be located elsewhere, for examplein padding or in data packets carried in the data field.

The ordering of the areas, sub-areas, signal fields and/or fieldscorresponding to the signal fields may be modified according to designor other considerations.

The sizes of each area, sub-area, signal field and/or fieldcorresponding to the signal fields may be fixed or variable. Forexample, each individual signal field, and each individual fieldcorresponding to a signal field, may have a fixed size. An area orsub-area containing the signal fields may have a fixed length. An areaor sub-area containing the fields corresponding to the signal fields mayhave a variable length depending on the fields present. A particulararea or sub-area may have a fixed length, or may have a variable lengththat is indicated by a value contained in a signal field or a fieldcorresponding to a signal field.

The skilled person will appreciate that the various configurationsdescribed above (including the ordering and sizes of areas, sub-areas,signal fields and fields corresponding to signal fields, and theinsertion of signal fields and fields corresponding to signal fields inareas and sub-areas) are merely exemplary, and that any suitableconfigurations may be used in various exemplary embodiments of theinventive concept. Some examples of data structures (e.g. framestructures or codewords) are described below with reference to FIGS.2-6.

FIG. 2 illustrates a data structure, in the form of a baseband frame(referred to below simply as a ‘frame’), according to an exemplaryembodiment. A frame 200 includes a header area 201, and a payload area203 corresponding to a data field. The header area 201 is divided into afirst sub-area 205, a second sub-area 207, and a third sub-area 209.

The first sub-area 205 includes three signal fields, including a SYNCDIsignal field 211, an ISSYI signal field 213, and a PADI signal field215. The first sub-area 207 further includes an RFU field 217. In thisexemplary embodiment, the first sub-area 205 has a fixed length of twobytes (this particular length being merely exemplary).

Each signal field contains a value which is encoded information toindicate whether a corresponding field is present in the frame 200. Inparticular, the SYNCDI signal field indicates whether a SYNCD field 219is present in the frame, the SYNCD field 219 including informationindicating an absolute or relative position of a first transmittedpacket that starts in the data field/payload area. For example, theposition may be indicated as a distance or offset (e.g. in bits) fromthe beginning of the data field to the beginning of the firsttransmitted packet which starts in the data field/payload area, or as apointer to the first transmitted packet which starts in the datafield/payload area. The ISSYI signal field 213 indicates whether an ISSYfield 221 is present in the frame, the ISSY field 221 containing inputstream synchronization information (for example, a value of a counterclocked at a modulator clock rate that can be used by a receiver toregenerate correct timing of a regenerated output stream). The PADIsignal field 215 indicates whether a PADL field 223 is present in theframe, the PADL field 223 indicating the length of any padding in theframe 200.

In this exemplary embodiment, the SYNCD field 219 has a fixed length ofone byte, the ISSY field 221 has a fixed length of three bytes, and thePADL field 223 has a fixed length of two bytes (these particular lengthsbeing merely exemplary).

The second sub-area 207 includes the fields corresponding to the signalfields, specifically the SYNCD field 219, the ISSY field 221, and thePADL field 223, when these fields are present, as indicated by thecorresponding signal fields 211, 213, and 215. The length of the secondsub-area 207 is variable depending on which fields (if any) are present.For example, if all of the SYNCD 219, ISSY 221, and PADL 223 fields arepresent, then the second sub-area 207 has a length of six bytes.

The third sub-area 209 includes padding and/or signalling data. Thelength of the third sub-area 209 including the padding is variabledepending on whether the padding is present, and the length of thepadding. In particular, the length of the third sub-area 209 isindicated in the PADL field 223.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the third sub-area 209 is locatedbefore the payload area 203. However, in alternative exemplaryembodiments, the third sub-area 209 may be located elsewhere, forexample after the payload area 203. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates adata structure, in the form of a baseband frame, according to anotherexemplary embodiment. According to FIG. 3, a frame 300 includes a thirdsub-area 309 containing padding which is located after a payload area303.

In some exemplary embodiments, a signal field may include a one-bit flagwhose value indicates presence or absence of a corresponding field in aframe. For example, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2,the ISSYI signal field 213 includes a one-bit flag, which is set to afirst value (e.g. 1) if the ISSY field 221 is present in the frame 200,and is set to a second value (e.g. 0) if the ISSY field 221 is notpresent in the frame 200. By adding fields, for example the ISSY field221, dynamically only when needed, for example on a frame-by-framebasis, overhead efficiency may be improved. The skilled person willappreciate that the aforementioned technique applied in relation to theISSY signal field 213 and ISSY field 221 may also be applied in relationto other signal fields and corresponding fields.

In some exemplary embodiments, a signal field may include not onlyinformation indicating presence or absence of a corresponding field in aframe, but also additional information. For example, in the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the SYNCDI signal field 211 includes aone-bit flag 225, which is set to a first value (e.g. 1) if the SYNCDfield 219 is present in the frame 200, and is set to a second value(e.g. 0) if the SYNCD field 219 is not present in the frame 200.

The SYNCDI signal field 211 may further include one or more additionalbits 227 for carrying additional information in the form of anadditional SYNCD value, according to an exemplary embodiment. In thisembodiment, when the SYNCDI signal field 211 indicates (by the one-bitflag 225) presence of the SYNCD field 219 in the frame 200, then SYNCDinformation is derived by combining (e.g. by concatenation) the value ofthe SYNCD field 219 and the additional SYNCD value carried by theadditional bits 227 of the SYNCDI signal field. For example, theadditional bits 227 of the SYNCDI signal field 211 may carry the leastsignificant bits (LSBs) of the SYNCD information and the SYNCD field 219may carry the most significant bits (MSBs) of the SYNCD information. Onthe other hand, when the SYNCDI signal field 211 indicates (by theone-bit flag 225) absence of the SYNCD field 219, then the SYNCDinformation is derived from the additional SYNCD value carried by theadditional bits 227 of the SYNCDI signal field 211 alone.

In this way, the SYNCD information may be carried by a variable numberof bits depending on presence or absence of the SYNCD field 219, asindicated by the SYNCDI signal field 211. For example, in the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the SYNCDI signal field 211 includessix bits in total, including a one-bit indicator flag 225 and fiveadditional bits 227, and the SYNCD field 219 includes eight bits. Thus,the SYNCD information may be carried by either five bits (the additionalbits 227 of the SYNCDI signal field 211 alone) or 13 (=5+8) bits (theadditional bits 227 combined with the SYNCD field 219). In this way, theSYNCD information may be carried by a variable number of bits dependingon how many bits are actually needed to carry the value, therebyincreasing overhead efficiency. The skilled person will appreciate thatthe aforementioned technique applied in relation to the SYNCDI signalfield 211 and SYNCD field 219 may also be applied in relation to othersignal fields and corresponding fields.

In some exemplary embodiments, the PADI signal field 215 may include aone-bit flag, which is set to a first value (e.g. 1) if the PADL field223 is present in the frame 200, and is set to a second value (e.g. 0)if the PADL field 223 is not present in the frame 200. In the case thatfragmentation is used, the padding in the third sub-area 209 may not beneeded because packets may be fragmented down to a relatively small size(e.g. 1 byte), to allow packets to fill the full capacity of the datafield 203. Therefore, omitting the PADL field 223 when fragmentation isused may improve overhead efficiency.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the PADI signal field215 is used not only to indicate presence or absence of the PADL field223 in the frame 200, but also to carry information relating to thelength of the padding in the frame 200. For example, the PADI signalfield 215 may carry information indicating the length of the padding, oralternatively whether the length of the padding exceeds a certainthreshold. In the case that the length of the padding exceeds thecertain threshold, the length of the padding may be indicated by thePADL field 223.

For example, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the PADIsignal field 215 includes two bits, which may carry one of four two-bitvalues 00, 01, 10, and 11. A first value (e.g. 00) indicates that theframe 200 contains no padding, and that the PADL field 223 is notpresent in the frame 200 (since the PADL field 223 is not needed becausethe frame carries no padding). A second value (01) indicates that theframe 200 contains the padding, that the padding has a length of oneunit (e.g. 1 byte), and that the PADL field 223 is not present in theframe 200 (since the PADL field 223 is not needed because the paddinglength is indicated by the PADI signal field 215). A third value (e.g.10) indicates that the frame 200 contains the padding, that the PADLfield 223 is present in the frame 200, and that the padding has a lengthof more than one unit (e.g. more than 1 byte), in which case the PADLfield 223 indicates the length of the padding. A fourth value (e.g. 11)may be reserved for future use. By incorporating padding lengthinformation in the PADI signal field 215, the PADL field 223 may beomitted in some situation, thereby improving overhead efficiency.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the PADL field 223 islocated in the second sub-area 207. However, in alternative exemplaryembodiments, the PADL field 223 may be inserted in a different location.For example, the PADL field 223 may be inserted within an area at theend of the frame 200. In some exemplary embodiments, the PADL field 223may be inserted within a certain portion of the padding (e.g. the firstx bytes or last x bytes of the padding). In this case, the value of thePADL field 223 may indicate the length of the remaining padding (i.e.the padding excluding the PADL field 223). For example, FIG. 4illustrates a data structure, in the form of a baseband frame, accordingto still another exemplary embodiment. According to FIG. 4, a frame 400includes a third sub-area 409 containing padding which is located aftera payload area 403, and a PADL field 423 is located at the end of theframe 400 as part of the padding.

As described above, in various exemplary embodiments, the PADL field 223may be inserted into a number of different locations or areas in theframe 200. A similar principle may be applied to one or more of theother fields. For example, while the signal fields are preferably, butnot necessarily, each located within the header area 201 of the frame,and/or within some other header region within the frame 200 (e.g. withina header of a packet in the frame), the corresponding fields may beinserted into a variety of locations or areas within the frame (e.g. adedicated area in the header area 201, the padding area 209, the payloadarea 203, or another area), for example according to a design choice.Different fields need not necessarily be inserted into the same region,portion or area of the frame 200.

In other exemplary embodiments, the PADI signal field 215 may includemore than two bits. For example, the PADI signal field 215 may include nbits that may take 2^(n) different values. A first subset of thesevalues may signal absence of the padding and the PADL field 223 in theframe 200. A second subset of the values may signal absence of the PADLfield 223, but presence of the padding within the frame 200, where eachvalue of the second subset may signal presence of the padding having acertain respective length. A third subset of the values may signalpresence of the padding having a length greater than a threshold and thepresence of the PADL field 223 for indicating the length of the padding.

For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a data structure, in the form of abaseband frame, according to still another exemplary embodiment.According to FIG. 5, a frame 500 includes a PADI signal field 515 ofthree bits. In this embodiment, a SYNCD field 519 is inserted in asecond sub-area 507 of a header area 501. In addition, a payload area503 is divided into a padding sub-area 529 and a data sub-area 531,wherein padding 509 is inserted within the padding sub-area 529 and thedata field is provided in a data sub-area 531. Furthermore, the paddingsub-area 529 is further sub-divided into a first sub-area 533 of fixedlength and a second sub-area 535 of variable length, wherein an ISSYfield 521 and a PADL field 523 are inserted into a first sub-area 533 ofthe padding sub-area 529 and padding 509 is inserted into a secondsub-area 535 of the padding sub-area 529. For example, the ISSY field521 may occupy the first three bytes of the first sub-area 533 of thepadding sub-area 529 and the PADL field 523 may occupy the next twobytes of the first sub-area 533 of the padding sub-area 529.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, a first value (e.g.000) of the PADI signal field 515 indicates absence of the padding 509and absence of the PADL field 523. A second value (e.g. 001) indicatespresence of one unit (e.g. 1 byte) of the padding 509 and absence ofboth the PADL field 523 and the ISSY field 521. A third value (e.g. 010)indicates presence of two units (e.g. 2 bytes) of the padding 509 andabsence of both the PADL field 523 and the ISSY field 521. A fourthvalue (e.g. 011) indicates presence of more than two units (e.g. morethan 2 bytes) of the padding 509, presence of the PADL field 523, andabsence of the ISSY field 521. A fifth value (e.g. 100) indicatespresence of more than two units (e.g. more than 2 bytes) of the padding509, and presence of both the PADL field 523 and the ISSY field 521.Other values (e.g. 101-111) may be reserved for future use.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the padding sub-area529 is located before the data sub-area 531 in the payload area 503. Inan alternative exemplary embodiment, the padding sub-area 529 may belocated after the data sub-area 531 in the payload area 503.

The exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 is one example in which asingle signal field is used to signal presence or absence of not only acorresponding field but also another field that may correspond toanother signal field. For example, in the exemplary embodimentillustrated in FIG. 5, a three-bit PADI signal field 515 is treated as asingle value and used to indicate one of the various configurationsinvolving both the PADL field 523 and the ISSY field 521, as describedabove. However, in other exemplary embodiments, separate signal fieldsmay be provided for the PADL field 523 and the ISSY field 521. Forexample, the three-bit PADI signal field 515 described above may bereplaced with a two-bit PADI signal field and a one-bit ISSYI signalfield.

For example, a first value (e.g. 00) inserted in the PADI signal field515 may indicate absence of the padding 509 and absence of the PADLfield 523. A second value (e.g. 01) inserted in the PADI signal field515 may indicate presence of one unit (e.g. 1 byte) of the padding 509and absence of the PADL field 523. A third value (e.g. 10) inserted inthe PADI signal field 515 may indicate presence of two units (e.g. 2byte) of the padding 509 and absence of the PADL field 523. A fourthvalue (e.g. 11) inserted in the PADI signal field 515 may indicate thatthe frame 500 contains the padding 509 having a length of more than twounits (e.g. more than 2 bytes), and that the PADL field 523 is presentin the frame, for example in the first sub-area 533 of the paddingsub-area 529.

For example, a first value (e.g. 0) inserted in the ISSYI signal fieldmay indicate that the ISSY field 521 is not present in the frame 500. Asecond value (e.g. 1) inserted in the ISSYI signal field may indicatethat the ISSY field 521 is present in the frame 500, for example in thefirst sub-area 533 of the padding sub-area 529.

The skilled person will appreciate that the aforementioned techniqueapplied in relation to the PADI signal field 515 and PADL field 523 mayalso be applied in relation to other signal fields and correspondingfields.

The skilled person will also appreciate that the techniques describedabove in relation to different signal fields and corresponding fieldsmay be combined together. For example, a signal field may be providedthat carries information that may be combined with information carriedin a corresponding field (if present) in the frame, for example in asimilar manner to the SYNCDI signal field 211 and the SYNCD field 219described above. The same signal field may also carry informationrelating to the length, or some other property or characteristic, of afield in the frame (if present), for example in a similar manner to thePADI signal field 215 and the PADL field 223 described above.

The RFU field 217 includes a number of bits reserved for future use. Forexample, the bits of the RFU field 217 may be used to add one or moreadditional signal fields and/or one or more other types of fields orflags, to add functionality. The RFU field 217 may have a length suchthat the overall length of the first sub-area 205 has a certain fixedlength. For example, in the specific example illustrated in FIG. 2 thatthe SYNCDI 211, ISSYI 213 and PADI 215 signal fields are six bits, onebit, and two bits, respectively, and the overall length of the firstsub-area 205 is two bytes, then the RFU field 217 has a length of sevenbits. In other examples in which the SYNCDI 211, ISSYI 213 and PADI 215signal fields include other specific numbers of bits, or the overalllength of the first sub-area 205 is different, then the length of theRFU field 217 may be modified accordingly. By providing the RFU field217, the frame structure 200 has the capacity to be extended withrelatively minor modifications, to enable the frame structure 200 toincorporate new features and co-exist with both legacy and futurestandards.

FIG. 6 illustrates a data structure, in the form of a baseband frame,according to still another exemplary embodiment. In this embodiment, aframe 600 includes a header area 601 and a payload area 603. The headerarea 601 is divided into a first sub-area 605 and a second sub-area 607.The first sub-area 605 of the header area 601 carries a SYNCDI signalfield 611, an ISSYI signal field 613 and an RFU field 615, for examplethe same as, or similar to, the signal fields described above. Thesecond sub-area 607 of the header area 601 carries a SYNCD field 619 andan ISSY field 621 (if present), for example the same as, or similar to,the fields described above. The payload area 603 corresponds to a datafield that carries one or more data packets 637 a to 637 c, for exampleUPs received from L2.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, one or more of thepackets 637 a to 637 c carried in the payload area 603 may be used tocarry one or more signal fields and/or one or more corresponding fields.The packets 637 a to 637 c may include one or more padding packets 637b, which are packets dedicated for carrying padding and/or signalling.As illustrated in FIG. 6, a padding packet 637 b carried in the payloadarea 603 includes a header portion 639 and a payload portion 641. Theheader portion 639 is used to carry a PADI signal field 615, acorresponding PADL field 623, and an RFU field 643, for example the sameas, or similar to, the signal fields and fields described above. Thepayload portion 641 of the padding packet 637 b may be used to carrypadding and/or signalling. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated inFIG. 6, the header portion 639 of the padding packet 637 b may beregarded as an area in which the PADI signal field 615, thecorresponding PADL field 623, and the RFU field 643 are carried.

In some exemplary embodiments, each signal field may be used to indicatepresence or absence of a corresponding respective field in the frame. Inother exemplary embodiments, a single signal field may be used to signalpresence or absence of more than one field in the frame. For example, asingle signal field may include a one bit value or a multi-bit value,wherein different values indicate presence of certain respectivecombinations of fields in the frame. For example, a one bit flag may beset to a first value (e.g. 1) to indicate presence of both of two fieldsin the frame, and may be set to a second value (e.g. 0) to indicateabsence of the two fields. An n-bit value may be set to one of 2^(n)values to indicate or signal that a certain corresponding subset of mfields (or all fields) is present (or alternatively, absent) in theframe.

The skilled person will appreciate that the specific combinations ofsignal fields illustrated in FIGS. 2-6 are merely exemplary. Forexample, in some exemplary embodiments, the frame may include only some,one, or none of the signal fields illustrated in FIGS. 2-6. In someexemplary embodiments, the frame may include one or more additionalsignal fields not illustrated in FIGS. 2-6. In some exemplaryembodiments, one or more of the signal fields illustrated in FIGS. 2-6may be replaced with alternative signal fields.

As mentioned above, the frame 200 may use fragmentation or nofragmentation. The various techniques described above may be used incases of both fragmentation and no fragmentation. However, in the caseof no fragmentation, the start of the data field 203 is typically alwaysaligned with the start of a UP, since no UP is broken and UPs areinserted into the data field 203 starting from the beginning of the datafield 203. Therefore, in the case of no fragmentation, the SYNCDinformation is not required, and thus, the SYNCDI signal field 211 andthe corresponding SYNCD field 219 may be omitted in the case of nofragmentation.

In order to indicate whether fragmentation is applied, a fragmentationindicator value FRAGI (e.g. a one-bit flag) may be inserted in the frame200. Alternatively, since fragmentation is typically performed at thePLP-level (i.e. the same fragmentation mode is typically applied to allframes 200 of a given PLP in a certain time interval), then the FRAGImay be moved to L1 signalling. For example, when FRAGI takes a firstvalue (e.g. 1), this indicates that fragmentation is applied. On theother hand, when FRAGI takes a second value (e.g. 0), this indicatesthat fragmentation is not applied. The SYNCDI signal field 211 and theSYNCD field 219 may be used according to the value of FRAGI.

As described above, the structure of a frame may be signalled, indicatedor specified using signal fields in a header area, region or portion ofthe frame. In certain exemplary embodiments, the frame structure may besignalled, indicated or specified using other suitable signallingresources, for example L1 signalling. Other signalling resources, forexample L1 signalling, may also be used to carry information that may becombined with information carried in the fields of the frame describedabove. For example, in some exemplary embodiments, ISSY information maybe carried partly by the ISSY field and partly by L1 signalling.Presence or absence of information carried by other signalling resourcesmay be signalled, indicated or specified using signal fields in theframe.

FIG. 7 illustrates a system 700 embodying the inventive concept, andFIGS. 8A-8B and 9 illustrate exemplary methods in reference to FIGS.2-6, according to the inventive concept.

The system 700 may be in the form of an ATSC 3.0 system including anATSC 3.0 transmitter apparatus 701 (e.g. a mobile terminal) and/or anATSC 3.0 receiver apparatus 703 (e.g. a mobile terminal). The skilledperson will appreciate that FIG. 7 schematically illustrates only thosecomponents relating specifically to the frame structures illustrated inFIGS. 2-6 and described above, and that the apparatus 701, 703illustrated in FIG. 7 may include one or more additional components invarious exemplary embodiments.

The transmitter apparatus 701 includes a frame builder 705 and atransmitter 707. The frame builder 705 is configured for building aframe using information (e.g. data, signalling, etc.) received by theframe builder 705, for example from other components (not shown) withinthe apparatus 701. For example, the frame builder 705 is configured forbuilding a frame having a structure according to one or more exemplaryembodiments of the inventive concept, including one or more of the framestructures described above.

According to an exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 8A, theframe builder 705 generates a header area and a payload area in a framesuch as the header area 201 and the payload area 203 in the frame 200 asshown in FIG. 2 (S81). Further, the frame builder 705 generates, in theheader area or the payload area, one or more signal fields forsignalling presence or absence of one or more corresponding informationfields to be located at least partly within the frame (S83). Also, theframe builder 705 generates the one or more corresponding informationfields at least partly within the frame, according to the signalling(S85).

Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the frame builder 705 inserts afirst signal field (e.g. an ISSYI signal field 213) into the frame at adesignated location (e.g. in the first sub-area 205 of the header area201) (S801). For example, the first signal field may have a form andcontent according to a signal field used in relation to any of theexemplary embodiments described herein, or any other exemplaryembodiments according to the inventive concept. Once the first signalfield is inserted into the frame, the frame builder 705 determineswhether a first field corresponding to the first signal field should beinserted in the frame based on the value of the first signal field(S803). If the frame builder 705 determines that the first field shouldbe inserted in the frame, the frame builder 705 inserts the first field(e.g. an ISSY field 221) in the frame 200 at a designated location (e.g.in a second sub-area 207 of the header area 201) (S805). For example,the first field may have a form and content according to a field used inrelation to any of the exemplary embodiments described herein, or anyother exemplary embodiments according to the inventive concept. Afterinserting the first field in the frame, or after determining that thefirst field should not be inserted in the frame, the frame builder 705repeats preceding operations 801-805 for any subsequent signal fields(e.g. a SYNCDI signal field 211 and a PADI signal field 215) andcorresponding fields (e.g. a SYNCD field 219 and a PADL field 223) to beinserted into the frame (S807).

After inserting all required signal fields and corresponding fields, theframe builder 705 completes the frame by inserting any further requiredsignalling, data and/or information in the frame (S809), for example byinserting one or more UPs into the data field 203 and/or by adding anyrequired padding.

In the above embodiment, the frame builder 700 generates or inserts oneor more information fields at least partly in the frame according tosignalling indicated in one or more signal fields or according to aresult of determining whether the one or more fields should be generatedor inserted at least partly in the frame. However, the inventive conceptis not limited hereto. That is, according to another exemplaryembodiment, the frame builder 700 may first generate or insert one ormore information fields at least partly in the frame, and then, generateor insert signal fields corresponding to the one or more informationfields.

After the frame builder 705 has built the frame, the frame may beprocessed if required, for example to perform outer and inner coding ofthe frame. The processing may be performed by the frame builder 705,and/or by one or more other components (e.g., BCH encoder). Thetransmitter 707 then transmits the processed frame to the receiverapparatus 703. The receiver apparatus 703 includes a receiver 709 forreceiving the transmitted frame and an information extractor 711. Theinformation extractor 711 is configured for analyzing the received frameand for extracting information carried by the various fields of theframe. The information extractor 711 is configured for extractinginformation from a frame having a structure according to one or moreexemplary embodiments of the inventive concept, including one or more ofthe frame structures described above.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the information extractor 711obtains the frame, after any required processing has been performed(S901). Next, the information extractor 711 extracts a first signalfield (e.g. the ISSYI signal field 213) from the frame at a designatedlocation (e.g. in the first sub-area 205 of the header area 201) (S903).Next, the information extractor 711 determines whether a first fieldcorresponding to the first signal field is present in the frame based onthe value of the first signal field (S905). If the information extractor711 determines that the first field is present in the frame, theinformation extractor 711 extracts the first field (e.g. an ISSY field221) from the frame at a designated location (e.g. in the secondsub-area 207 of the header area 201) (S907). After extracting the firstfield from the frame, or after determining that the first field is notpresent in the frame, the information extractor 711 repeats precedingoperations 903-907 for any subsequent signal field (e.g. a SYNCDI signalfield 211 and a PADI signal field 215) and corresponding fields (e.g. aSYNCD field 219 and a PADL field 223) to be extracted from the frame.

The information extractor 711 may also extract or reconstruct anyfurther required signalling, data and/or information (S911). Forexample, the information extractor 711 may extract any padding and/orsignalling from the received frame 200 according to the padding lengthindicated by the PADI signal field 215 and/or the PADL field 223. Theinformation extractor 711 may reconstruct SYNCD information based on thevalues indicated in the SYNCDI signal field 211 and the SYNCD field 219.The information extractor 711 may extract data, for example UPs, fromthe data field 203.

It will be appreciated that the exemplary embodiments of the inventiveconcept can be realized in the form of hardware, software or acombination of hardware and software. Any such software may be stored inthe form of volatile or non-volatile storage, for example a storagedevice like a ROM, whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the formof memory such as, for example, RAM, memory chips, device or integratedcircuits or on an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, forexample, a CD, DVD, magnetic disk or magnetic tape or the like.

It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media areexemplary embodiments of machine-readable storage that are suitable forstoring a program or programs including instructions that, whenexecuted, implement certain exemplary embodiments of the inventiveconcept. Accordingly, certain exemplary embodiments provide a programincluding code for implementing a method, apparatus or system as claimedin any one of the claims of this specification, and a machine-readablestorage storing such a program. Still further, such programs may beconveyed electronically via any medium, for example a communicationsignal carried over a wired or wireless connection, and exemplaryembodiments suitably encompass the same.

While the inventive concept has been shown and described with referenceto certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the scope of the inventive concept, asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A transmitting apparatus, the apparatuscomprising: a processor configured to generate a frame comprising aheader and a payload, the header comprising a first field and a secondfield; and a transmitter configured to transmit the frame, wherein thefirst field comprises a first value or a second value, wherein the firstvalue indicates that the second field comprises a least significant bit(LSB) part, and wherein the second value indicates that the second fieldcomprises the LSB part and a most significant bit (MSB) part.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the LSB part and the MSB part are forindicating a pointer value, and wherein the pointer value is an offsetfrom a start position of the payload to a start position of a first datapacket included in the payload.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theheader is divided into a first sub-area and a second sub-area, andwherein the first field is included in the first sub-area and the secondfield is included in the second sub-area.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the header further comprises information indicating presence ofa third field in the header, and wherein the third field compriseslength information indicating a length of padding.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the header further comprises information indicating alength of padding.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the headerfurther comprises information indicating whether a length of padding isgreater than a predetermined value.